Amtrak to begin random screening of carry-on luggage

WASHINGTON -- Amtrak will start randomly screening passengers' carry-on bags in a new security push that includes officers with automatic weapons and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains, the railroad planned to announce today.

The initiative is a significant shift for Amtrak. Unlike the airlines, it has had relatively little visible increase in security since the 2001 terrorist attacks, a distinction that has enabled it to attract passengers eager to avoid airport hassles.

Amtrak officials insist their new procedures won't hold up the flow of passengers.

Concern about Amtrak security has been mounting since the 2004 bombings of commuter trains in Madrid that killed 191 people. Trains also have been bombed in London, where 52 people were killled in a series of blasts in 2005, most of them on subway trains, and in Mumbai, India, where 200 people were killed in 2006 on commuter trains. Russia also has had several bombings on subway, commuter and long-distance trains.

Amtrak plans to roll out the new "mobile security teams" first on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, the railroad's most heavily used route. Teams will show up unannounced at stations and set up baggage screening areas.

- The Associated Press
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